The Novels of Barbara Pym
The Novels of Barbara Pym 2013 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of my favorite British authors Barbara Pym. So by way of celebration, I reread a […]
Crusoe’s Daughter
Crusoe’s Daughter by Jane Gardam This is my third Gardam book in as many months. Having enjoyed Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat, I turned to Crusoe’s […]
The Man in the Wooden Hat
The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam (Book 2) Don’t you occasionally wonder how your spouse experiences your mutual milestones as well as the minutia of your everyday […]
Old Filth
Old Filth by Jane Gardam (Book 1) Prior to his retirement to Dorset, Sir Edward Feathers was a successful Hong Kong judge. He was greatly admired in the legal community, […]
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by the Countess of Carnarvon. This is the true story of Highclere Castle, the real Downton Abbey, and its remarkable mistress Lady Almina, […]
The Viceroy’s Daughters
The Viceroy’s Daughters: The Lives of the Curzon Sisters by Anne de Courcy The aristocratic Curzon sisters were the daughters of Lord Curzon, confidants of royalty, and friends, lovers, and […]
The Splendid and the Vile
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson Given the enormous number of Churchill biographies, especially of the war years, one might wonder about the necessity of yet another. Eric […]
Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre The English have always appreciated, even treasured, eccentricity, and nowhere was this more evident than in the staffing of the British Secret Service during WW […]
Churchill’s Citadel
Churchill’s Citadel, Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm by Katherine Carter Do we really need another Winston Churchill book? Probably not, but author Katherine Carter, curator at Chartwell, takes […]
A VoyageAround the Queen
A Voyage Around the Queen by Craig Brown Craig Brown’s unconventional biography of Queen Elizabeth II was a disappointment. By all accounts, QEII never said (publicly at least) anything interesting, […]
The Siege
The Siege by Ben Macintyre On the morning of April 30, 1980, six heavily armed young Arab men stormed the Iranian Embassy in London and captured the twenty-six people on […]
The Palace Papers
The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor—the Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown The Palace Papers by Tina Brown is the latest in a long line of royal […]
The Crown in Crisis
The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman I was disappointed in The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication, a day-by-day account of the last month […]
The Churchills in Love and War
The Churchills in Love and War by Mary S. Lovell From the time that war hero the Duke of Marlborough built Blenheim Palace in 1704, the Churchill family has occupied […]
The Churchill Sisters
The Churchill Sisters by Rachel Trethewey Without question, Winston Churchill was one of the great statesmen of the 20thC, but as a parent, less great. This is somewhat understandable as […]